Clause 1
Serious Crime Bill [Lords]
11:15 am
Vernon Coaker (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Gedling, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is trying to get the Government to introduce into the Bill something relevant to criminal law. These are civil orders. We are trying, in Committee, to flesh out the evidential base for a civil court. They are not criminal proceedings. The words, “beyond reasonable doubt” and the sorts of amendments to which he has referred would blur the distinction between criminal and civil law. We are trying to clarify the evidential base for civil proceedings.